Women's Hoops Return Home Behind Garrison's 1,000

This Week
Santa Clara's women's basketball (12-4, 3-1 WCC) continues West Coast Conference play at home this weekend. The Broncos will host Portland on Thursday at 7 p.m., where a pregame ceremony will honor Annie Garrison, as the senior forward became only the 12th Bronco to score 1,000 points in a career last weekend. On Saturday, Santa Clara will host Gonzaga at 7 p.m., The athletic department is celebrating "Take a Kid to the Game Night" where all youths will receive free admission with a paying adult.

Garrison Scores 1,000
Senior forward Annie Garrison recorded her 1,000th career point with her 25th and final point on the night to lead Santa Clara to a 69-64 victory over San Francisco Jan. 20 in WCC action at War Memorial Gym. Her milestone score came on a free throw with 47 seconds left in regulation, making her only the 12th Bronco all-time to reach to reach 1,000 points. Additionally, those 25 points were a season high, and fell three short of a career best. Nine of those points came in the final three minutes of the game as she was 9-10 from the field and added 10 rebounds defensively for her fifth double-double of the season.

Follow the Broncos Live on the Internet
Santa Clara now offers fans a live Internet audio broadcast on www.SantaClaraBroncos.com for all women's home games and this weekend's road contests at Saint Mary's and San Francisco. This new feature to the women's program began with the Jan. 2 game against Columbia. Dan Harrington is in his first season as the voice of the Lady Broncos. Additionally, the Broncos' home-opener against Maryland on Dec. 27 marked the launching of a new feature that allows fans to follow each home game with a live statistical tracker. Fans can receive real-time updated statistics direct from the official courtside scoring computer for the team's remaining seven home contests, allowing users to listen to the audio broadcast and keep up with the statistics simultaneously.

Denker One of Three New WCC Faces
Santa Clara first-year head coach Chris Denker is one of three new head coaches in West Coast Conference women's basketball this season. He will be facing Gonzaga's first-year leader Kelly Graves this Saturday, although Graves is no stranger to this league. He was the head coach at Saint Mary's for the past three seasons. The other new face to the conference this season is Saint Mary's rookie coach Michelle Jacoby.

Scouting the Portland Pilots
Series Record: Portland leads 15-16
First Meeting: 1987 - SCU won (62-59) Jan. 5 in Santa Clara
Last Meeting: 2000 - SCU won (83-81, ot) Feb. 26 in Portland
SCU Largest Margin of Victory: 64 on Jan. 26, 1991 (106-42) in Portland
Portland Largest Margin of Victory: 26 on Jan. 13, 1996 (69-43) in Portland
Notable: Portland is led by forward Sharon Rissmiller, who is averaging 12.8 points per game... additionally, guard Ashlee Giles adds 11.4 points and 3.5 steals per contest... the Pilots are playing with only nine active players on the roster... Portland is only shooting 50.6 percent from the foul line against the WCC... head coach Jim Sollars earned career victory 400 earlier this season... Santa Clara has won the past five meetings between the schools.

Scouting the Gonzaga Bulldogs
Series Record: Santa Clara leads 19-8
First Meeting: 1988 - Gonzaga won (59-45) Jan. 16 in Spokane
Last Meeting: 2000 - SCU won (84-71) in Feb. 24 Spokane
SCU Largest Margin of Victory: 44 on Jan. 10, 1997 (84-40) in Santa Clara
Gonzaga Largest Margin of Victory: 26 on Feb. 3, 1989 (72-46) in Spokane
Notable: Forward Jessica Malone (18.8 ppg) has recorded nine career double-doubles, earning the last one while playing on a sprained ankle... the team's second leading scorer, Erin Bergman (9.7 ppg), is also playing injured... Gonzaga is limiting conference opponents to 60.0 points per game and 40 percent shooting from the field... like SCU head coach Chris Denker, Zags coach Kelly Graves is in his first season as a Bulldog... Santa Clara has won the last four meetings against Gonzaga.

Leading the League in Defense
The Broncos lead the WCC defensively, ranking first in scoring defense, holding opponents to 60.7 points, and rebounding defense (32.8). SCU is second in field goal defense (.398) and three-point field goal defense (.301), and is third in defensive rebounds (26.56). Santa Clara also leads the league offensively, in free throw percentage, at .724, and field goal percentage (.455). SCU is second in scoring margin (+9.4) and assists (16.06). Individually, Annie Garrison leads the WCC in blocked shots (1.94 pg), is second in rebounding (8.6), third in free throw percentage (.775), fourth in field goal percentage (.507) and eighth in scoring (13.4). Becki Ashbaugh is tops in assists (5.62) and is fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.41. Caroline Gruening is second in three-point field goals made, averaging 1.94 pg, and in three-point field goal percentage (.425), while and 15th in scoring (11.3). Jen Glysson is ranked 10th in rebounding (6.9).

Garrison, Team Ranked Nationally
Senior Annie Garrison is tied for 19th nationally in blocked shots, averaging 1.9 per game, with 31 on the season. Additionally, Santa Clara's 65.2 percent field goal night against Pepperdine on Jan. 11 is currently tied for the ninth best mark in the NCAA this season. The Broncos were 30-46 from the field in the 79-67 conference victory.

Coming From Behind
Santa Clara's win over San Francisco marked the second come-from-behind victory for the Broncos in the last four games. Down by five at halftime, SCU outscored the Dons 41-31 for a 69-64 victory on Jan. 20. Santa Clara overcame an eight-point halftime deficit the previous week vs. Pepperdine to win 79-67 on Jan. 11.

Ashbaugh Perfect Charity Stripe Scoring
With 30 seconds left on the clock, Ashbaugh sank eight free throws in eight attempts to secure Santa Clara's victory over San Francisco on Jan. 20. She finished the night 10-10 from the charity stripe and is shooting 75 percent on the season.

Not Behind the Arc
Although Santa Clara is averaging 4.3 three-pointers per game, it's 0-3 effort in the first half against San Francisco on Jan. 20 marked the fourth time this season that the Broncos have failed to score from behind the arc. In 32 halves this season, SCU has also not posted a three vs. Loyola Marymount on Jan. 13 (0-2 in the first half), vs. Maryland on Dec. 27 (0-10 in second half) and at California (0-4 in second half).

Unexpected Offence
Santa Clara and Saint Mary's have given up the fewest total points of any WCC team this year, so you might have expected a low-scoring affair when they met on Jan. 19. Instead, they played the highest scoring game in the series since 1992, an exciting 79-76 shootout won by the Gaels. SCU's 76 points was the second-highest total allowed by Saint Mary's this season and SMC's 79 was the second highest total allowed by the Broncos.

Welcome to "Washington South"
With six players on this year's roster from the state of Washington, the mission campus is becoming known as "Washington South." Currently on the team is Becki Ashbaugh of Bellevue, Tammy Annas of Enumclaw, Kim Sorenson of Seattle, Jennie Rondel of Kirkland, Julie Butler of Tacoma and Courtney Cushing of Brush Prairie. All but Sorenson return for the 2001-02 season. With the addition of four recruits, also from the state of Washington, next year's edition of the Broncos will feature nine players from the evergreen state. Kim Butler of Tacoma, Quinn Thomas of Kent, Kayla Huss of Everett and Tina Donahue of Stanwood will complete the contingent.

The WCC Tournament
The 2001 WCC men's and women's basketball championships, scheduled to take place March 1-5, will set up shop at San Diego's newly constructed Jenny Craig Pavilion. The league is leaving the Bay Area for the first time in three years to host its annual basketball showcase. In recent years, the WCC Basketball Tournament was hosted by Santa Clara, but renovations to the Leavey Center prompted the change in venue. Please call 408-554-4660 for tickets.